Apparatus for packaging beverages



June 18, 1940.

-'R. J. STEWART 2,204,832

MPAgATUS FOR PACKAGING BEVERAGES Filed April 13, 1939 s Sheets-Sheet 1 June 18, 1940. J STEWART 2,204,832

APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING BEVERAGES Filed April 13, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 18, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT @FMQE APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING BEVERAGES Application April 13, 1939, Serial No. 267,701

Claims.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for packaging beverages.

In the packaging of beverages of the readily foaming type containing a gas, such as carbon dioxide, it has heretofore been recognized as desirable to eliminate, so far as possible, air from the space in the receptacle above the beverage before sealing the receptacle. Various expedients have been proposed and utilized for this purpose.

The present invention involves that type of apparatus by means of which the receptacle contents are agitated to release gas from the space above the beverage surface. By the invention, agitation of the receptacle contents is obtained by applying the agitating force directly to the beverage. It has been found that agitation of the beverage caused by a force applied directly thereto is extremely effective in creating a fineb-ubbled and controllable foam which will quickly rise in the container head space to force all air therefrom.

The principal object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for agitating the contents of beverage receptacles so as to cause gas to be liberated therefrom and force air from the head I space of the container.

It has been found that gas is more readily liberated from certain types of beverages if the agitating force, preferably a fluid under pressure, is heated.

An important object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for projecting a heated fluid into contact with a beverage to liberate gas from the latter.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the above type and of such construction that it can be positioned between the filling table and capping mechanism of a filling machine.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for depositing a fixed charge of fluid, either gas or liquid, in a container.

As will be apparent from the following specification, the structure of the present invention is such that it is readily applicable for flowing a predetermined charge into a container, since the apparatus includes a very simple and efficient means for reciprocating a filling nozzle with respect to a container and for controlling flow through such nozzle.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan View of a filling machine with the superstructure thereof removed and with the apparatus of my invention incorporated therein and shown in plan;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of a fluid flow controlling valve body or ported member which may be used with the present apparatus;

Figure 3 is a vertical radial section through the apparatus of the present invention on the line 33 of Figure l, and

Figure 4 is a View similar to Figure 3 but on a slightly smaller scale and showing an injecting -10 nozzle in both lowered and raised positions.

Referring to Figure 1, wherein the jetting device of the present invention is shown incorporated in a filling machine, the numeral lb designates the stationary work table of the filling machine having a rotary filling table it associated therewith. Stationary table it is provided with a continuously rotating transfer dial 32 adapted to remove bottles from the filling platforms of the filling table I l and conduct them to the continuo-usly rotating dial l3 included in the present jetting device I 4. Dial I3 is provided with pockets of the usual type to maintain containers in vertical alignment with the jetting heads l5 spaced above the dial and carried by a continuously rotating central turret it. During rotation of a bottle or other receptacle B with the dial l3,the bottle will have gas injected therein, and will then be removed from dial l3 by a second transfer dial 18 which will conduct the bottle to a rotating capping mechanism Hi from which the bottles will move from the filling machine in well-known manner.

Figure 3 illustrates the manner of supporting a jetting head l5 from the central turret it, and it will be observed from this View that the central turret I6 is supported and rotates upon a valve body or ported element 25 fixed to a stationary-tube 26.

. The tube 26 opens to a small central chamber 40 26a in the ported element 25 and extends downwardly through the stationary work table it and is there connected with a steam line M by a coupling 28. The rotary dial l3 associated with the jetting device is carried by a continuously driven hollow shaft, not shown, which surrounds the portion of stationary tube 25 immediately above the fitting 28. A second tube 36 is mounted Within the tube 26, the upper end of tube 39 being threaded in a counter-sunk bore 3! in the valve body 25, and the lower portion of tube 30 extending downwardly past the fitting 28 to be connected to a steam exhausting line, not shown. The turret I6 is caused to rotate upon the stationary valve body 25 by reason of the fact that one or more vertical rods 34 extend upwardly from the dial i3 and are suitably secured to fluid conducting tubes forming part of the rotating turret structure of the device.

Suitable means may be provided to enable the stationary tube 26 and the tube 36 to be moved vertically to enable the apparatus to accommodate containers of difierent sizes. The rod 34 may have such engagement with the rotating turret structure as to permit such vertical movement,

The central and rotatable turret [6 supports the jetting heads l5 upon radially extending tubes 36 and 31, the inner ends of these tubes being threaded into bores 38 and 39, respectively, which extend from the outer periphery of the turret IE to its inner concave face 40, which seats upon the inclined or cone-shaped face 4! of the valve body 25. The outer ends of each pair of tubes 36 and 31 are secured in a bracket 42, and each jetting head 15 is secured to a corresponding bracket 42 by means of machine screws or the like. The jetting heads I5 are of generally cylindrical form to provide a chamber 44 in which a piston 45 is slidable, the piston being carried by the central portion of a jetting tube or nozzle 46. The lower portion of nozzle 46 extends through a packing 47 which closes the lower end of chamber 44 and the upper end of tube 46 extends through a packing 48 which serves to close the upper end of the chamber. The upper packing 48 has a cylinder 49 threaded upon the same which provides a second chamber 50 above the fitting I5. Chamber 50 is of sufiicient length to enclose the upper end of the tube 46 when the latter is in the raised position shown in Figure 3, the upper end of the chamber being closed by a fitting 5|, through which a gas line 52 extends. Gas line 52 has its opposite end connected to a bore 53 in the central fitting or turret Hi.

It will be noted that each radially extending tube 3'! communicates with an angled bore 56 in each head 15, which bore opens to the upper end of chamber 44 of jetting head I5, and that the tube 96 communicates with an angled bore 51 which opens to the lower end of the chamber 44.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, a bore 66 extends through the valve body or ported element 25 to place the small central lower chamber 260. of the latter in communication with a passage 59 which extends about the face 4| of the element 25. Bore 66 opens to the lower portion 6| of passage 59, which portion extends about the lower part of face 4! in a horizontal plane, passage 59 being offset as indicated at 62 in Figure 2 in an upward direction to communicate with an upper extension 63 of passage 6|. The passage 59 of course communicates through bore 66, chamber 26a and tube 26 with the steam supply line 21.

A radially extending bore 65 in the ported element 25 connects the axial bore 3| and exhaust tube 30 with an intermediate point of a passage 64 about the face 41 of element 25. It will be noted from Figure 2 that a lower portion 66 of passage 64 extends from a point adjacent the ofiset 62 of passage 59, and thence around the element 25 to a point adjacent the opposite end of passage 59, this entire extent of the lower portion 66 of passage 64 being in the same horizontal plane as the lower portion 6| of passage 59. The remainder of passage 64 overlaps passage 59, that is, passage 64 includes an offset portion 6'! which leads to an upper portion 68 of passage 64, which latter portion is circumferentially coextensive with the lower portion 6| of passage 59, and is also in the same horizontal plane as the upper portion 63 of passage 59. The entire passage 64 serves as an exhaust passage, since, as stated above, the radial passage 65 places it in communication with the axially extending exhaust tube 30.

The vertical movements of a jetting tube 46 will be controlled by the above passage arrangement. That is, at the moment that a bottle moves beneath a jetting tube 46, the passages 38 and 39 corresponding to that jetting tube will be at a point corresponding to the dotted line A of Figure 2, which position corresponds to that illustrated in Figure 3 and also shown at the left of Figure 4. As indicated, the lower passage 38 which communicates with the lower end of chamber 44 of the jetting head l5 will be in communication with the lower portion 6| of steam supply passage 59, so that steam pressure will be exerted in the lower portion of the chamber 44 to hold the piston 45 and jetting tube 46 upwardly as indicated in Figure 3 and in the left-hand portion of Figure 4. At the same time, the passage 39 corresponding to that jetting head will communicate with the upwardly offset portion 68 of exhaust passage 64. The portion of jetting tube or nozzle 46 within the chamber 44 will, of course, be heated by the steam within the chamber.

Immediately after a bottle has been placed beneath the jetting nozzle by the transfer dial l2, the rotation of dial l3 and the jetting head supporting turret 16 will move the passages 38 and 39 along the face of ported element 25 to bring passage 38 into alignment with the lower portion 66 of exhaust passage 64 and simultaneously bring passage 39 into alignment with the upwardly offset portion 63 of steam passage 59, with the result that steam will move into the upper portion of chamber 44 through passage 56 to force the piston 45 and jetting nozzle 46 downwardly to theposition shown at the right of Figure 4, this movement being permitted because of the alignment of lower jetting head passage 38 with the exhaust passage 64. The steam entering the upper end of chamber 44 will, of course, now serve to heat the portion of the jetting tube 46 above piston 45.

Almost immediately after the above movement of nozzle 46, the upper passage 39 of the jetting head will move out of alignment with the upwardly offset portion 63 of steam passage 59, terminating the delivery of steam to the upper portion of chamber 44 and leaving the jetting nozzle in lowered position due to its own weight. At the same time, the upper passage 53 of turret l6 which opens to the upper chamber 59 of the jetting head under discussion will come into alignment with an upper passage 10 of ported element 25, and which passage communicates, through a radial passage H and an axial passage 12, with a line 13 through which gas, preferably carbon dioxide, may be supplied to the apparatus. At this time the ports 39, 39 and 53 will be, in a position substantially as indicated along the line C in Figure 2. Thus, carbon dioxide under pressure will now be delivered to the upper chamber 56 of the jetting head, and thence downwardly through the heated length of jetting nozzle 46 and through the orifice at the lower end of the latter.

The downward movement of jetting nozzle 46 referred to above will have positioned the orifice of the tube at a point adjacent the surface of the liquid in the bottle B, preferably either just below the surface of the liquid as shown in Figured, or just above the surface. ,The issuance of heated carbon dioxide under suitable pressure into the container and against the liquid in this manner will cause the contents to foam so that air will be forced from the container head space, all as described in the application for Method of packaging beverages, Serial No. 267,741, filed by David B. Stone on April 13, 1939.

Movement of carbon dioxide or other fluid into a chamber fill, and thence through the corresponding jetting nozzle &6, will continue through out the time that the passage 53 associated therewith is opposite the injecting fluid supply passage 1'0 of ported element 25. Immediately after a passage 53 has moved out of. alignment with passage 1B, the passage 39 of the jetting head will move into communication with the upwardly offset portion fiil of exhaust passage M while the lower passage 3!; will move opposite the lower portion 8i of steam supply passage 59, with the result that steam will flow into the lower portion of jetting head chamber is to raise the piston 45 and the jetting nozzle 36 to the position shown in Figure 3 and at the left of Figure 4. After this has occurred, the bottle will be removed from jetting dial I3 by transfer dial it, and during further rotation of dial i3 and turret iii a second bottle will be moved under the same jetting nozzle by the transfer dial Hi.

It will be understood that the vertical movement of the jetting nozzle i6 may be effected by compressed air instead of by steam.

It is also to be noted that the present apparatus may be used forthe purpose of merely injecting gas into the head space of a container in such a manner that air will be forced out without foaming of the beverage, and that, in such circumstances, the carbon dioxide or other gas may or may not be heated. Also, the jetting tube may be arranged to inject carbon dioxide or other suitable gas into the lower portion of the liquid, this operation sometimes being desirable with beverages which do not readily foam.

Since the present apparatus includes means for reciprocating a filling nozzle with respect to a container and for flowing a fixed charge of a fluid to the container, it is applicable for flowing liquid, for example, syrup, into containers merely by connecting the line 71-; to a. syrup reservoir and using compressed air to reciprocate the nozzles 46 as described above, since heating of the syrup will not be desired.

The terminology used in the specification is for the purpose of description, the scope of the invention being indicated by the claims.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid into beverage containers, a stationary element, rotatable means to move containers about said element, a turret rotatable with said means, a

, plurality of. injecting nozzles vertically reciprocable on said turret, and means to reciprocate said nozzles, supply injecting fluid thereto, and heat such fluid during flow of the latter adjacent said nozzles.

2. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid into beverage containers, a stationary central element, means rotatable with respect to said element to move containers about the latter, said central element being provided with pressure, exhaust and injecting fluid supply passages, a turret member rotatable on said stationary central element and including passages corresponding to the passages in said central element and adapted to be aligned therewith during rotation,

a plurality of piston and cylinder structures carried by said turret member, and with which the pressure and exhaust passages of said turret member communicate, an injecting fluid nozzle carried by each of the piston structures and having its ends extending exterior-1y of the corresponding cylinder structure, and a chamber upon each of the cylinder structures into which the upper end of the nozzle extends, said chamber being in communication with the injecting fluid passage of said turret element.

3. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid into beverage containers, a stationary element, means to rotate containers about said stationary element, a plurality of fluid injecting nozzles reciprocable upon said stationary element, fluid pressure operated means associated with each of said nozzles to reciprocate the same, a source of injecting fluid, a source of actuating fluid, and means to control flow of actuating fluid to said fluid pressure actuated means and to control supply of the injecting fluid to said nozzles;

4. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid into beverage containers, 2. central stationary element, said element having a steam supply passage therein, means to move containers about said stationary element, a turret rotatable upon said element, a plurality of cylinders spaced about said turret, injecting nozzles extending through said cylinders, pistons upon said nozzles within said cylinders, each of said cylinders having a passage extending therefrom to said turret and adapted to communicate with the steam passage of said central element upon rotation of, said turret thereon, the portions of said nozzles Within said cylinders being exposed to heat from steam flowing into said cylinders, and means to supply fluid to said injecting nozzles.

5. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid into beverage containers, a central stationary element, said element having an injecting fluid supply passage therein, means to move con-tainers about said stationary element, a turret rotatable upon said element, a plurality of nozzles spaced about said turret, each of said nozzles having a pass-age extending therefrom to said turret and adapted to communicate with the passage of said central element upon rotation of said turret thereon, and means to heat the injecting fluid during its flow adjacent said nozzles.

6. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid into beverage containers, a central stationary element, said element having a steam supply passage and an injecting fluid supply passage therein, means to move containers about said stationary element, a turret rotatable upon said element, a plurality of cylinders spaced about said turret, injecting nozzles extending through said cylinders, pistons upon said nozzles within said cylinders, each of said cylinders having a passage extending therefrom to said turret and adapted to communicate with the steam passage of said central element upon rotation of said turret thereon, the portions of said nozzles Within said cylinders being exposed to heat from steam flowing into said cylinders, and a connection between each of said nozzles and said central element adapted to communicate with the injecting fluid supply passage of said stationary element upon rotation of said turret upon the latter.

'7. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid into beverage containers, a central stationary element, means to move containers about said element, said element being provided with a seat face having a plurality of passages therein comprising a passage extending about the same adapted to communicate with a source of injecting fluid, a second passage vertically offset along the length thereof adapted to communicate with a source of actuating fluid, and a third passage vertically offset along the length thereof complementary to the second-named passage and adapted to communicate with atmosphere, a turret rotatable upon said stationary element and having a seat face bearing upon the seat face of the latter, a plurality of cylinders carried by said turret each having passages extending from the ends thereof to the turret seat face to communicate with the two last-mentioned passages in said stationary element during rotation of the turret, an injecting nozzle in each of said cylinders having a passage extending therefrom to the seat face of said turret and adapted to communicate with the first passage of said stationary element during rotation of the turret, and a piston on each of said nozzles Within the corresponding cylinder.

8. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid into beverage containers, a source of fluid, a

reciprocable nozzle communicating therewith, and means to reciprocate said nozzle with respect to a container and heat the fluid during flow of the latter adjacent said nozzle.

9. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid 5 into beverage containers, a source of beverage agitating fluid, a reciprocable nozzle communieating therewith, a source of heated fluid under pressure, and means communicating with said last-mentioned source and adapted to be actated by fluid therefrom to reciprocate said nozzle to move the latter with respect to a beverage container and to heat the beverage agitating fluid moving through said nozzle.

10. In an apparatus for injecting gaseous fluid into beverage containers, a cylinder, a reciprocable nozzle including a piston mounted in said cylinder, a source of beverage agitating fluid, a source of fluid under pressure, means to place the bore of said nozzle in communication with said source of beverage agitating fluid, and means to place said cylinder in communication with said source of fluid under pressure to cause said piston and nozzle to be reciprocated.

ROBERT J. STEWART. 

